Stephanie Labbe was paying close attention to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Draw on Saturday morning, knowing the results would dictate the direction of her focus for the next sixth months.

The starting goalkeeper for the Canadian women’s national soccer team now knows who the competition will be at the tournament in France, drawn into a group with the Netherlands, New Zealand and Cameroon.

“Watching it is a drawn-out process, that’s for sure, it really gets the heart rate up,” said Labbe, a Stony Plain product who now resides in Calgary. “It’s a mixture of excitement and nerves and just all this unexpected feelings. You go in and you have hopes of who you would like to have in your group and what a good group could look like. But in the back of your mind you know your ideal group probably won’t get picked. So watching it is a slow process, but all these things go through your head and you start thinking about the last World Cup.”

Canada was one of six ranked teams in the 24-team draw and placed in a pot with France, Germany, Australia, England, and the United States. They were the fifth team selected from their pot and placed into Group E. Netherlands, New Zealand and Cameroon were selected respectively to join them in the group.

A general view during the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 Draw at La Seine Musicale on December 8, 2018 in Paris, France. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images

Canada will open the tournament on June 10 against Cameroon in Montpellier, France. They play New Zealand in Grenoble, France on June 15, and conclude the round-robin portion of the tournament on June 20 against the Netherlands in Reims, France. The top two teams from each group and the four best third-place finishers will advance to the knockout stages of the tournament.

“Obviously we know Netherlands and New Zealand quite well, having them in our group in the last World Cup, and as well having played them multiple times,” Labbe said. “We know them very well and have good records against them, which I think is good for our mindset, but we know both of them are going to be strong.

“Cameroon we don’t know too much about. I’ve never played them in my career. It’s a little bit of an unknown, but at the same time, we’re obviously going to get a lot of footage from their qualifiers and I expect them to be a physical and athletic team, as you would expect.”

As hosts of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Canada was drawn in a group with the Netherlands, New Zealand and China. They opened the tournament with a 1-0 victory against China in front of over 53,000 fans at Commonwealth Stadium. Canada were then held to a scoreless tie by New Zealand and drew 1-1 with the Netherlands.

“Games against New Zealand are always close, they’re a physical team that always plays very similar to us. In terms of tactics and the way they play is very similar to us,” Labbe said. “Holland, we’ve had very different games against them. We’ve had some games where we completely dominated and other games where it’s been super close. For them, it’s going to be about taking the mindset of being confident against them. They won the Euros so they’re in a strong position and are feeling good.”

The Dutch are reigning European Champions, so they won’t be a treat for Canada.

Holland won their first-ever European title on home soil in 2017, defeating Denmark 4-2 in the final.

New Zealand’s women soccer program was in large part built by former Canadian women’s national team head coach John Herdman, who has since moved on to the Canadian men’s program.

Cameroon played in the 2015 World Cup and put in an impressive performance in the group stages, before losing to China in the second round.

“You start to have these visions of how the draw could go and what it could look like and I think now that it’s set, it makes it more real and more exciting,” Labbe said. “We’re six months out now and with the draw done now, it’s down to business.”

Stephanie Labbe blocks a shot during a Team Canada practice on June 5, 2015, in Edmonton. Greg Southam / Postmedia

If Canada is able to win their group, they could potentially avoid the United States until the final. Their road to the final could potentially go through England, Australia, and Germany in the knockout stages.

However, there are endless permutations and combinations depending on results of the group games.

“We know upsets happen and results go in different ways so you have to prepare so that doesn’t happen against you, and you have to be ready for those three games,” Labbe said. “And once you’re out of the group, your history and your ranking doesn’t matter any more. It’s do or die and you just have to leave it all out on the field, and hope for the best.”

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